Controlling your privacy on HealthUnlocked
Your health experiences have the potential to help others in a similar situation and transform lives. Because this may involve sharing sensitive information, we encourage you to stay anonymous and be aware of your privacy options.
Staying anonymous
Username
To ensure you remain anonymous we encourage you to choose a non-identifiable username, as this is visible to others. If you have already signed up with an identifiable username (something close to your real name), you can change it in your account settings
Posting
Whenever you write something on HealthUnlocked, remember these privacy tips:
- Don't share your real full name
- Don't share your contact details
- Don't share any other piece of information that could identify you.
For more information on posting options, please read: Who can see my posts?
Profile
On your profile, you can add information about yourself such as your gender, age and country as well as conditions, symptoms and treatments. If there is a section you are not comfortable displaying to others just select ‘Hide’.
If you wish to remain anonymous, it is highly recommended that you do not choose your avatar to be an image of yourself.
If you want to edit your profile and see how it appears to others, please click here
Privacy options
You have 3 privacy settings on your account settings page
1. Allow other members to follow me
If you are followed by others, it means that they will receive updates about your new posts. If one of your followers isn't a member of a certain community, they won't be notified of posts you make visible to followers of that community only.
2. Allow other members to see my approximate location
People Near Me is a feature that allows one user to see who from their community lives closest to them. This tool enables you to communicate with people who are more likely to have shared experiences to you and perhaps provide more support and relevant local recommendations. We never show your exact location, just an estimated distance between you and others.
3. Allow other members to see who I’m following
If you are followed by others, it means that they will receive updates about your new posts. If one of your followers isn't a member of a certain community, they won't be notified of posts you make visible to followers of that community only. Using the word private may be misleading, better to describe as posts that you have made visible to followers of the community only.
Data sharing
HealthUnlocked may anonymise and aggregate information collected through the site (e.g. polls, symptom surveys, etc). This data will never directly or indirectly reveal your identity.
This information may then be published as a study or shared with our research partners. The third parties we collaborate with all share our ideals that this data must only be used in an effort to improve healthcare for everyone.
You can always control whether your information is used in this way. Visit your account settings